Recently we caught up with Savannah Blair and Lindsey Barronian, two of our senior design staff, to ask them about what changes they’ve seen in the industry and what these changes might mean for architecture trends as the industry moves forward.
Blair earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2006 from Washington State University. Barronian earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at California Polytechnic State University in 2012.
Innovation Is Off The Chain
Since Blair and Barronian started their careers, there’s been a boom in building science and sustainability.
“We built the same way for thousands of years,” Barronian says, “so the fact that we're changing the way that we're building over a 15-year time period is miraculously fast.”
These innovations are exciting for people who want to build homes that will last and that will continue to perform well — even decades after they’re built.
Houses are also getting safer. The industry is turning its back on materials that have a negative effect on health and on techniques that don’t control for mold and other hazards.
Delays And Costs Are Rising
Covid has changed the way the industry functions. Costs are rising and there have been supply issues ever since the pandemic that persist today, says Blair. There’s a lot more waiting, on samples during the selection process and on large shipments during construction.
Some contractors still function with pre-pandemic timelines in mind but these days, that’s not realistic and can lead to significant delays. Over and over, Blair has seen it take everyone by surprise. Flexibility is now part of the game.
Today, she says, architects need to communicate clearly with both clients and contractors and not be shy about (kindly) sending reminders. Otherwise, delays can completely stop a project.
Barronian notes that delays and costs are rising in part because the demographics of the trades are shifting. “Our tradespeople are disappearing and retiring,” she says, “and there are not a lot of young tradespeople right now. [On top of that,] there's a lot of work to be done, and everybody is busy and many can't take on more work. So that's making timelines longer.”
And with the cost of materials also rising, architects have a special role to play by helping people scale their plans in a way that aligns with their vision.
Customer Service Is Less Predictable
Product representative positions have a higher turnover rate and it’s affecting the industry. New product reps need to catch up on their understanding of the product, the industry, and vital considerations such as energy codes. Turnover can lead to lags in communication and, in the worst cases, errors that can cost clients time and money.
Architects are filling the gap by educating product reps and their clients to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. And to make it even more complicated, the industry is short on architects, which leads to even more bottlenecking. The takeaway: If you’re building a house or starting a renovation project, be prepared to muster extra patience throughout the process.
Architectural Training Has Changed
“One thing I noticed, and am a little surprised by, is that architecture school is really different than when I went through,” Blair says.
She notes that courses used to teach hand drawing and sketching as a ground-level, non-negotiable skill. Drawing was so foundational that she remembers students being penalized for using computers during these early stages of learning.
Even when she’s working alone at the beginning of the design process, she still uses a pen and tracing paper. “It’s faster. It doesn't bog me down.”
Today, students do all of their work digitally which can result in errors due to a lack of understanding of the data they are entering into the 3D modeling programs. From the production side, that’s a change. It’s not all bad, Blair says. But there’s a missing link and she thinks these students can be at a disadvantage: “It’s hard for them to sketch out the ideas live, with a client.”
She feels lucky to have had the kind of training that included hand-drafting techniques, including opportunities to design elements of a structure and see them built in the real world.
Is this a disaster? No, she says. But it can make it more challenging for architectural graduates who are just getting started.
Recent graduates, who entered their university-level studies during the pandemic, also have unique challenges, Barronian says. “There's just a lot less hands-on learning.” Instead of talking about a design with an instructor, face to face. This opens up opportunities for learning, she says, but can be a bit of a shock for new architects.
Women In The Industry
In 2009, 41 percent of architecture graduates were women; by 2021, that number had risen to 51 percent (Wikipedia). The NCARB reports that “Over the past 5 years [from 2023], gender representation has increased from 38% to 43% for women in the new architect population.” The statistics say that women who graduate are going into the industry in large numbers. Still, the total percentage of licensed architects in the United States who are women right now sits at just 27%.
Blair and Barronian’s experiences confirm the statistical trends; there are more women now in the industry than they’ve seen before. The industry, and the face of the industry, is still dominated by White men, but it’s getting better. That said, Barronian notes that even though half of her graduating class at Cal Poly was women, a good number of them did not become licensed architects. Instead, they used their training to springboard into other industries.
Still, Blair says no matter what firm you’re working in today, “there’s almost always a woman in the room. Artisans Group is the exception, of course. We attract women.”
Mothers In The Industry
Barronian says she’s seen a shift in the prevalence of women who continue working as architects even after they have children.
For the first part of her career, she noticed a trend. There were women in the industry but none of them had children, even though almost every man she worked with was a father. Typically, those men had stay-at-home wives.
“For the longest time, I thought ‘Well, I can get married, but I can't have kids and stay in the industry.’ That was a topic that my husband and I grappled with for a long time. I finally decided that I'm just gonna do it. I'm going to be that example for the younger generation. [Even though it’s not the norm,] I want to be a woman in the architecture industry [who also has kids]. I'm trying to buck the statistics. I think that's really important, even if it’s nothing other than me being there and sitting in a chair and thinking, I'm doing it.”
We’re Cool With Change
We’re proud of our flexibility and resilience. As the industry has changed, we’ve transformed right along with it — and sometimes in front of it — making sure we can anticipate what our clients will need during the entire design and building process.
By hiring excellent staff, like Blair and Barronian, we continue to keep up with architecture trends while staying rooted in the time-tested practices that make beautiful, sustainable, enduring houses a reality.
Posted on January 01, 2025
